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Answerman - Why Isn't More Anime Made For Americans?

But then there are others, myself included, who became anime fans as an extension of our general love for animation. We got stuck on anime because it does a whole slew of things which are extremely rare to nonexistent in Western animation: serialized storytelling, mature-target shows that aren't sitcoms, taking on every genre under the sun. I've often thought that if American animation featured more shows like Avatar and Batman: TAS, and fewer shows like...well, everything else, I may not have ever needed to find anime in the first place. I don't like anime series simply because they're Japanese, but because they're good animated shows, and as it stands the vast majority of my favorites tend to be those with somewhat Western sensibilities, or at least those that aren't targeted at any specific niche demographic.

Japanese entertainment companies, and basically any entertainment company not in the US, desperately want to make it big in the US. This is a constant thing. It's because America is the world's biggest entertainment market, America makes most of the world's most successful and iconic entertainment, and America basically drives the narrative as to what's relevant cultural material for a huge chunk of the world. Japan has tried for years, almost always unsuccessfully, to break into the American market in any number of ways, and anime has been a part of that failed invasion attempt for longer than there's been a proper anime industry in the US.

Anime has always been made with a world market in mind. Virtually every Toei Douga film from the 1960s got some sort of small American release (often uncut!), as did many early anime series from the 1960s. But making anime SPECIFICALLY FOR Americans has a much less successful history.

Ali07 wrote:

Lili-Hime wrote: Part of why I like anime over american TV is that it most times has a beginning, middle and end. Agreed. Even though, many series I enjoy don't have an end. They end up being incomplete adaptions...and that's the side of anime I hate...

Other than old OVAs, I can't really think of many anime that don't feel like they end with some sort of note of finality.

Additionally, Yona of the Dawn obviously doesn't cover the entire story of the manga, but the anime still had a satisfying ending.

I also agree with Lili-Hime's criticism on American comics. Any worthwhile character development can easily be destroyed by bringing things back to the status quo. That's really frustrating.

Honestly, the Firefly effect does 90% of the damage here in the U.S. as to not keeping new viewers. I bet the majority of them throw their hands up in disgust and give up after only a few seasons. Personally, I just tell people to only start watching completed stuff until you get used to the idea they are going to arbitrarily drop most of what you like, no matter how good it is or how well it does here.

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Sure, Aniplex might be able to start an American division, hire a Japanese guy who's been in the business for a decade, and make a small dent, but to do the sort of mainstream project you're suggesting, you have to have a major television broadcaster partner, spend millions of dollars in marketing, and put on a gigantic PR blitz.

Not quite answerman. while it would be true for companies like viz media and funi , for companies like aniplex & NIS America is another story.

since a majority of their series they release get the sub only treatment (excluding US like series like Guren Lagann & Kill La Kill, and for all Type-Moon series and series that have the fate/stay night logo) they wont have to worry about having to have a major TV broadcasting partner or have a big ass PR blitz. especially if its very well known within the otaku community.

I can't think of any show that actually "did well" and was canceled.

And yet when asked why they don't renew something that was solid in the U.S., the answer is always it's because they don't give a crap about the numbers anywhere except in Japan.

They don't need to make anime "just for America". They just need to quit... that..

Please name something that was dropped despite "doing well" in the ratings;

Oh god, time and time again people on ANN show how misinformed they are about american comics.

Second, characters from DC and Marvel will be here at least as long as Disney and WB, that alone makes it impossible to tell one big story, that's why editors change creative teams from time to time and that's why nobody even remotely familiar with big two expects characters to be the same.

So we have the highly experimental. What i had never seen is an anime which treats the family dynamic and social life of children the way certain canadian or american or british cartoons treat the subject. It would be really interesting experiments to see an anime that tries to be "jacob two two" or "peanuts" or even "arthur". I mean, to leave all the over the top plots and elements and express the themes and plots in a more realistic and subdued less wacky way.

You can’t really blame people for that. If it is not Marvel, DC, or even Image, most people will not even know it exists.

Creative teams also had fairly long lives when compared to now. I view the short lives of creative teams and artists as a negative. You lose the continuity of the characters and you lose fans when artists or creative teams change out so often.

It is a myth that you can’t tell long big stories, when they have been doing it for decades already.

Sazae-san is what you want.